J.G. Ballard

On refusing his CBE:
the honours system is a 'Ruritanian charade that helps to prop up our top-heavy monarchy.'

On SF:
he 'wasn't interested in the far future, space-ships and all that ... [but rather] the evolving world, the world of hidden persuaders, of the communications landscape developing, of mass tourism, of the vast conformist suburbs dominated by television - that was a form of science fiction, and it was already here'

from the Guardian, here.